Thornton and Marleau get a new linemate (Iginla), and more from Montreal

MONTREAL — Here’s what passes for news after the equivalent of a morning skate at the Bell Centre.

Jarome Igninla will start at right wing on a line with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Iginla is looking for his first goal after four All-Star appearances and likes the idea of having Thornton setting him up. Don’t expect the line to stick together too long, though. Todd McLellan says he plans to give everybody a chance to play with everybody else before the game is over.

Dan Boyle’s defense partner? It’ll be Scott Niedermayer, at least at the start.

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Devin Setoguchi, by the way, is the only one of the Sharks delegation that gets to use the hallowed home locker room of the Canadiens. The West team gets the visitor’s room, of course, but in the Young Stars event, players aren’t divided by conference. Rookies get the visiting room and sophomores, inlcuding Setoguchi, are in the home team’s quarters. Much nicer, of course.

Finally (for now at least), McLellan’s family won’t be joining him here for the game. His son Tyson’s pee-wee team advanced in the Silver Sticks tournament in Port Huron, Mich., this morning and has another game later today.

That means they won’t be able to make the 5 p.m. flight that would have brought them to Montreal, and the family decided it would be too hectic to try and make it here Sunday if Tyson’s Junor Sharks team were eliminated in that second game.

That’s it for now. Need a little time to wander the sunshine-filled, yet unbelievably frigid streets of downtown Montreal and this may be my only chance.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

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my imagination runs wild at just the spectre of what things could be like if iginla was on a line regularly with jumbo and patty.
and no i’m not an out-of-towner…i threw in that “re” in honor of our boys being in quebec this weekend even though it’s really sort of a silly spelling…

Robert

sucks that Todd’s family can’t be there to see him in yet another roll he’s earned this season but hopefully for them Tyson and the Junior Sharks take the tourney.

hope Seto stills some of Kovalev’s sticks when nobody is looking :P.

off topic –> did anyone see this quote in Emmons article from Roenick about the gray beards?

“I see too many kids going the wrong way. They don’t have the respect or the know-how to treat the sport — even Sidney Crosby. You see him bitching, whining and crying. He’s supposed to be the poster boy of our league and yet every time he gets hit, he’s grimacing and complaining to the referees. Veterans teach the kids the right way to play.”

Feb. 11th is our rematch with the Pens. hope JR catches Sid with a clean demolishing behind the net.

Robert

obviously i meant “steals” instead of “stills”.. time to have some coffee..

Nick_G

JR said roughly the same thing on NHL Radio the other day. He said he thinks there needs to be more “characters” to take the rains from him. He made it clear that it wasn’t the antics of Avery that he supports, but players like Olvechkin. He compared Crosby to Gretzky in his “business” like demeanor.

#1 – “stills” I assume is steals… right?

Nick_G

nm u beat me to it.

mdgolf

Nick…surely you mean take the “reins” from him. Sorry, couldn’t resist…

Ivano

I bet Patty-Joe-Iginla is the same line we may see at the Olympics next February, unless Seto makes it as well. Wouldn’t that be something?

But it still doesn’t look as impressive as Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Zherdev, sorry everyone.

SactoShark

Maybe in the Olympics… but in the NHL, the Marleau-Thornton-Iginla line is currently outscoring the Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Zherdev line.

Grant

I thought when McLellan got hired or at least before he got hired he said something about buying a house in the San Jose Area, or maybe it was David that said McLellan was house shopping in San Jose.

Now I read that McLellan’s son plays in a league in Michigan. Im confused I thought McLellan moved his family out here and that his son went to school out here. At least thats what DP reported before. So DP what gives McLellan still lives in Michigan, not SJ. What’s the long term implacations of that? I mean I want a full time coach, who lives here and can be here all year round.

Gary

Nice one sactoshark, nothing against you Ivano 😉

I would love to see Patty-Joe-Iggy line at the Olympics next year. But most people here in the media doesn’t think Joe’s even gonna make the team, so we’ll see. They think Crosby, Lecavalier, and Getzlaf already fills 3 scoring centers. I hope not, but we’ll see.

Robert

@ #6 Ivano –> Ovechkin plays a physical game but i can just see him throwing a hit at either Big Joe or Iginla and either bouncing off of them or subsequently being beaten upon by either. Patty might not be able to bounce him off but i am sure the result of such might also prompt a beating behind handed out by Thorton or Jerome.

plus going on what SactoShark brought up –> Jerome is technically having an off season in the goal scoring dept.. in 17 games of 22 since the start of December he’s not had a goal yet he still leads the Flames in points and is only six behind Ovechkin.

speaking of hitting –> it was nice to see Clowe get the #1 spot on the NHL’s hits of the week with that freight train collision on Kronwall.

Robert

second correction of the day.. either just one cup of coffee is really losing its effect on me or five hours of sleep is starting to have an impact at 32 years…

“being handed out by Thorton or Jerome” not “behind handed”.

Ivano

Robert
If Ovechkin could destroy Chelios (go to youtube and search under “Ovechkin Chelios hit Olympics”), he can destroy anyone.

That hit by the way was when Ovechkin was 30 pounds lighter. He’s got more muscles now and hits harder.

For me it’s a dream Stanley Cup final – Caps vs Sharks.

SactoShark

That would be a cool finals. Like the Flames, the Caps have come a long way since the Sharks first pummeled them.

Penny

Grant – Todd’s son with playing on the Jr. Sharks team in a national tournament taking place in Michigan. It was in one of the previous articles or blog entries.

GJ

Exactly, Penny. Grant, cut the guy a break! I’m glad to see he puts his kid first and himself second. That’s a great father.

JonF

Did anyone notice that the “STM Line” (Setoguchi/Thornton/Marleau) was voted #1 in the NHL _ALL-TIME_ Best Lines by SI? Very cool…

Nick_G

All Time??? Maybe this year, or the last few years… but all time????

dan_s

The SI article named STM the best line this year.

dbay

have a question about the locker rooms. Does the home team have to empty their lockers for this event? Stupid question but someone asked me and i have no idea.